Pole sitter Marco Andretti appeared to have a car good enough to contend for a win early in the Milwaukee IndyFest, but an electrical failure on his No. 25 RC Cola Chevrolet zapped his hopes and also put him farther behind in the IZOD IndyCar Series championship.

The third-generation driver had paced the first 61 laps of the 250-lap race until Andretti Autosport teammate and eventual race winner Ryan Hunter-Reay overtook him at Lap 62. Six laps later, things got worse for Andretti on his first stop of the afternoon as the fuel probe failed to release from his car, costing him track position.

Then on Lap 98, the bottom fell out as Andretti suddenly lost power and rolled onto the apron between Turns 1 and 2 before coming to a stop on the backstretch to bring out the yellow. The car was taken back to pit road and after sorting out the electrical problem, Andretti rejoined the race 42 laps off the pace to try and get as many championship points possible. He eventually finished 20th.

“We came here for a win and had a car to do it,” said Andretti, who is now third in the standings at 50 points behind leader Helio Castroneves. “We fell back after a delay in the pits and then had an electrical issue – I didn’t have any idea of what happened at the time. The voltage went straight down and I lost all kinds of power; I couldn’t shift, the clutch didn’t work. We came back for all the points we could.”

His problems were the low point in an otherwise great day for Andretti Autosport. In addition to Hunter-Reay’s win, drivers E.J. Viso and James Hinchcliffe both corralled Top-5 finishes with Viso in fourth and Hinchcliffe in fifth.

“We know we’ve had the speed because we’ve seen it at almost every event this year, but I think we hadn’t quite been able to close the deal,” said Viso, who led 10 laps en route to his best career finish at Milwaukee. “We have been struggling a bit thus far, and I think we’re due for some podiums and wins. Hopefully, this is just the start.”

Hinchcliffe called it “incredible” for Andretti Autosport to put three of their guys in the Top-5, but also wished his No. 27 GoDaddy Chevy was a touch better dealing with traffic on the Mile.

“…I think that would have helped us get around the lapped cars and we could have challenged the guys we were actually racing for position with,” he said.